A longshoreman loads a container on a truck at the Port of Portland's Terminal 6, where productivity sank last summer as ships bypassed Portland during a union dispute that continues. The Port will pay shipping lines $10 a container through the end of this year to encourage them to keep calling on Portland as labor turmoil boosts costs.Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian

The Port of Portland will pay shipping lines $10 a container to keep sending cargo vessels here despite longshore labor disputes that started last spring and drove up costs.

Port commissioners voted 7-2 Wednesday in favor of the payments to ocean carriers, up to a total $1 million, on top of subsidizing the company that operates Portland's embattled container yard.

The West Coast longshore union quickly condemned the payments, and denied responsibility for slowdowns at the North Portland terminal. The Port is squandering public resources and scapegoating union members, who continue to work productively, longshore leaders said.But Bob Coleman, president of the Columbia River Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association, welcomed the incentive program, calling it a last-ditch attempt to keep Portland's container port open. Coleman, business development director at Allports Forwarding Inc., which books freight, blamed longshore workers for slowing container movement and jeopardizing port operations.

"It's because they're lazy, they're slowing down and they're flexing their muscle," Coleman said. "When they get tired of working, or they want to take a break, they call a safety issue."

TRIMET: As a member of the TriMet's board of directors, Steve Clark knew that the transit agency – like most in the U.S. – was working overtime into shifts and trying to deal with chronic absenteeism.

But Clark said he was shocked to read that many bus drivers are fattening their paychecks by working up to 22 hours in a 24-hour period.

"I had no idea that the problems were this extensive," Clark said Wednesday, referring to The Oregonian's investigation into TriMet driver fatigue published Sunday.

During their first meeting since the story, board members appeared shell-shocked by its revelations, including at least 21 reports of operators nodding off behind the wheel in the past 3 1/2 years.

POLICE REVIEW: A Portland police review board urged the chief to fire a captain after finding he inappropriately touched female employees and escalated an off-duty road rage confrontation by flashing his gun and badge at another motorist.

The Police Review Board members found Todd Wyatt "untruthful," questioned his ability to perform with integrity, and voted 5 to 1 to recommend his termination, according to board documents made public for the first time Wednesday.toddwyatt.jpg View full size Todd Wyatt Instead, Chief Mike Reese chose to demote the 21-year bureau veteran to the rank of lieutenant, on Dec. 31. The chief re-assigned Wyatt to the detective division. Wyatt began supervising robbery and sex crimes investigators Jan. 2.

"This is not what police accountability looks like," Mary-Beth Baptista, the director of the Independent Police Review Division, said Wednesday.

MURDER TRIAL: A 35-year-old man went on trial Wednesday in the fatal stabbing of a father of three on the morning of New Year's Eve two years ago in Old Town.

Robert Williams, 40, of Oregon City was found bleeding profusely in the middle of the street and died two weeks later, never regaining consciousness at OHSU Hospital.

Anthony Lee Benjamin originally was one of three people arrested in the attack on Robert Williams, 40, at Northwest Sixth Avenue and Davis Street at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2010.

A grand jury indicted Benjamin on a murder charge and two other people on third-degree assault charges. Benjamin later was indicted on accusations of trying to kill the others charged in the attack. They are scheduled to testify in his trial.

If convicted, Benjamin faces a minimum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years.

EVERYDAY PEOPLE: While everyone else was taking stock of their holiday haul, Brian Fuge was postponing his after-Christmas inventory to tend to customers whose gifts landed in the too-small, too-big, "I don't want this" or "I already have this" category.

After a hectic holiday season, the week after Christmas is a time for many to finally relax. Visiting relatives have gone home, gifts have been opened and, often, there are a few days left of vacation from school or work.

But for Fuge, 26, a customer service representative at a Best Buy in Portland, it's the busiest week of the year.

Customers clutching crumpled receipts and bulging plastic bags of unwanted movies, digital clocks and electronic gadgets snake through a returns line that zigzags several times before reaching the front door.

The returnees outnumber paying customers by a noticeable margin.

So go the days after Christmas, Fuge says, and it won't let up until mid-January.

MANYEL SCHAUFFLER: Manvel Schauffler didn't talk much about the time he was shot while helping thwart a kidnapping at Catlin Gabel School in 1954.

That didn't fit his character.

"He was not going to tell you about the great stuff he'd done," said his son, Allen Schauffler.

His father preferred to talk about how to develop in others the willingness to help and how best to educate students.

Schauffler, head of Catlin Gabel School from 1967 to 1980, helped create the institution that now exists. He died Tuesday in a Portland hospice at age 88. His son said he had suffered from dementia for more than a decade.